The Motor City Machine Guns
The Motor City Machine Guns is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. The team is best known for its work in the American company Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where they are former TNA World Tag Team Champions. Through TNA's then relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), the team also worked for the Japanese promotion, where they won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The team name, which has been variably Motor and Murder City, is a play on the nickname of Detroit, the hometown of both Shelley and Sabin. The duo disbanded after Shelly announced his retirement. History Origins Shelley and Sabin first started teaming in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max in 2006. On August 25 they took the Zero-1 Max International Lightweight Tag Team Championship from Minoru Fujita and Ikuto Hidaka, holding them for almost two years before dropping them back to Fujita and his new partner Takuya Sugawara. After returning Stateside, the pair had short runs in the independent promotions Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor under the names Motor City Machine Guns and Murder City Machine Guns respectively until their main employer, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) requested their wrestlers stop taking bookings with certain independent companies. New Japan Pro Wrestling (2009, 2010, 2016) On January 4, 2009, Sabin and Shelley defeated No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They became the second gaijin team to win the championship after American Dragon and Curry Man. After three successful title defenses, two of which took place in TNA, Shelley and Sabin lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title to Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) on July 5, 2009, at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul. On November 8, 2010, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion the following month, competing at events on December 11 and 12. On December 11 the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by No Limit in their New Japan return match. The following day they defeated Apollo 55 in the fourth ever match between the two teams. On July 31, 2016, NJPW announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion on August 21. In their return match, The Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. In wrestling *'Double–team finishing moves' **''ASCS Rush'' (Spinning sole kick by Sabin followed by a superkick from Shelley and then finished with a simultaneous jumping enzuigiri by Sabin / superkick by Shelley combination) **''Made in Detroit'' (Sitout powerbomb (Sabin) / Sliced Bread #2 (Shelley) combination) **Powerbomb (Sabin) / Double knee backbreaker (Shelley) combination – 2006–2007 **''Skull and Bones'' (Falling neckbreaker (Sabin) / Diving splash (Shelley) combination) *'Double–team signature moves' **Aided dropkick **Aided snap swinging neckbreaker **Aided standing Sliced Bread #2 **''Air Raid'' (Sabin holds an opponent in a fireman's carry while Shelley hits a diving double foot stomp onto the prone opponent followed by Sabin hitting a fireman's carry takeover onto Shelley's knees or the Cradle Shock) **Backbreaker hold (Sabin) / Diving knee drop (Shelley) combination **''Bullet Point'' (Baseball slide by Shelley followed by a Hesitation Dropkick by Sabin to an opponent held in the tree of woe position) **Doomsday dropkick **Double and stereo enzuigiris to one or two opponents respectively **Double superkick to a seated or a kneeling opponent **Inverted atomic drop by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the knees by Sabin followed by an inverted STF by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the face of the opponent by Sabin **Irish whip by Sabin into a belly-to-belly suplex by Shelley, suplexing the opponent into his partner held in a tree of woe position **Kneeling side slam by Sabin followed by a frog splash by Shelley **''Motor City Machine Guns Sandwich'' (Running arched big boot (Sabin) / Enzuigir (Shelley) combination to a cornered opponent) **Reverse STO (Shelley) / Jumping enzuigiri (Sabin) combination **Simultaneous diving leg drop (Sabin) / diving splash (Shelley) combination **Spinning leg sweep (Sabin) / Spinning wheel kick (Shelley) combination **Springboard dropkick by Sabin into a reverse STO by Shelley **Standing inverted Indian deathlock surfboard by Shelley followed into a springboard diving leg drop to the back of an opponent's head by Sabin **''Thunder Express'' (Inverted sitout side powerslam (Shelley) / Running cutter (Sabin) combination) *'Entrance themes' **"Motorcity" by Adam Skaggs (TNA) **"All Ghosts to Medicine Counter Four" by Christian Fitness (ROH) Championships and accomplishments *'New Japan Pro Wrestling' **IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) *'Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max' **Zero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) References Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling teams and stables Category:Pro Wrestling Zero1 teams and stables Category:NJPW teams and stables Category:Tag Teams